Life of a Concubine
by rainbowgasms
Summary: Ever wonder what Jia's life was like before Dun walked in? Well here's your chance to find out. Spin-off series to my She Loves Him, She Loves Him Not story.
1. Humble Begginings

Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors, the end. :

Okay, so if you're here, you've probably read or started reading my story _She Loves Him, She Loves Him Not._ This is a spin-off kind of thing of that story. It will cover a variety of details throughout Jia's life until the time she meets Xiahou Dun. Please, read and enjoy.

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Humble Beginnings

The air was still, quiet, eerie, almost. The wind picked up without a sound and made the long blades of grass dance around the curious seven-year-old. Her short hair and ragged bangs flew about her face happily as she smiled a goofy grin toward the night's sky. Her curfew had been nearly an hour ago, but she couldn't help but go out and play at night.

Night had always been her favorite time. It was dark, mysterious, filled with solitude and peace. She looked up at the moon, big and bright, shining down as if it was shining for only her. She smiled harder, the gap caused by her two missing teeth was clear as day.

Everyone was asleep by now, she figured. No one dared to come out at night, or so it had always seemed. Her simple mother, her farmer father, and her little brother always stayed in at night, never daring to go out past dark. She was different though, the cover of night was like a second home to her; always calling out to her, always offering her a helping hand.

The girl ran down the hill as a commotion in town sparked her curiosity. She was an expert at using her small size to maneuvering her way around town when she was supposed to be doing chores at her house. She never got caught sneaking away. But this night, a big commotion was going on in a part of town she had never been to before. She snuck her way through back alleys until she found a spot where she could see the commotion clearly.

She saw, from behind the safety of two empty crates, two men fighting ferociously in front of a building named the Chrysanthemum House. The little girl wondered why these men were being so violent. She had once seen her father get into a fight, but it was verbal, not physical. She'd seen her father break up fist fights, but that's about it.

The two men fought, their cheeks were bloody, their fists were raw and white. The little girl had to look away several times. Violence was something that sickened her. When people told stories of war, or showed off their battle scars, the little girl would often run to the safety of her mother's long sleeves on her robes. Violence scared her, frightened her to no end.

Just as the girl thought about fleeing the scene a woman came stumbling out of the Chrysanthemum House. This woman, though she was having a hard time finding her footing, was the most beautiful and elegant woman the little girl had ever laid eyes on. She had the longest hair pinned up with the prettiest pins. She wore the most extravagant robes and had the most lavish makeup. Just as the little girl was soaking in this woman's beauty, the two men stopped fighting and looked up at the woman.

"Just what in the world is going on here?" the woman questioned.

The little girl was drawn into the singsong quality of this woman's voice. Before laying her eyes on this woman, the little girl had always thought her mother to be the prettiest woman alive. But now there was someone else to envy, someone else to fawn after.

"I asked a question!" the woman's voice turned sour for a moment, but she covered it with a quick cough.

"We were fighting, my lady," one man knelt at the woman's feet and put his forehead to the ground.

"May we have your forgiveness, Miss Tai?" the other man begged.

"Don't let this happen again, not in front of _this_ place anyway," the lady looked around the area before spotting the little girl's curious face hidden in the shadows of the alley.

The little girl's eyes widened as the woman looked at her and laughed. She stepped down to the ground and ran through the complex series of alleys and back up the hill to her home. She expertly snuck inside and hid in her bed.

Such a beautiful face, Miss Tai had. She would certainly never forget her…

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I think Jia would be a really cute little girl, shut up. D;


	2. A Horrid Birthday

Disclaimer: I own no DW characters. Everything else is mine.

So, this chapter might sound like you've heard something very similar before, and I apologize for that. But I'll explain later.

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A Horrid Birthday

The little girl never saw that beautiful woman, Miss Tai, again. Some night she would venture down in front of the Chrysanthemum House and look for her, but there was no sign of her beautiful face. The little girl had grown up into a teenager, and it was her thirteenth birthday that she would remember most.

The girl wore her new robe that her mother had bought for her. She twirled around in front of a musty silver platter that she had set upright to serve as a mirror. Her reflection was distorted, but it was still visible. She smiled and admired the soft whites and pinks of the robes.

Her brother had fallen ill only a few weeks before, and her parents worried for the life of the sick nine-year-old. But it was her day, and she was determined to make it so. She was of age now. She was finally a woman, and she was ready to make an impression on the world.

She had developed into a fine young woman; her figure was delicate, her face was gentle. Her hair was growing long and straight, the ideal for the girls in that age. She fluttered down the stairs and saw her mother waiting for her with the most pleasant of smiles. However, her young brother's head lay in her mother's lap, his face pale, his breathing shallow.

A man sat next to the girl's father; he was a strange man, one she had never seen before, and he certainly had a strange air about him. The girl studied him for a moment before sitting next to her mother.

"This is your daughter?" the man asked suddenly. "She certainly is a young beauty."

The girl eyed the man with suspicion.

"Isn't she? I am very proud of her," the girl's father boasted.

"She will bring in good money. A fine investment, I must say."

"Jia," the girl's mother spoke up rashly. "Let us go outside, just you and I."

The girl followed her mother outside and into the garden where they stopped to admire the beautiful roses that were growing. The girl's mother plucked a rose from the bush and tucked it behind her ear, something Jia had always admired about her. The sweet simplicity of her mother's beauty always intrigued her. Her friends' mothers always wore complex robes of brocade, and wore beautiful hairpins, even if their husband's salary couldn't support it. Jia knew her father's salary couldn't support these things, but her mother didn't demand that she have these luxuries.

"What is your favorite type of flower, my little Jia?" the mother asked softly.

"Chrysanthemum," Jia answered immediately. The face of the beautiful Miss Tai in front of the Chrysanthemum House was clear as day in that moment. Jia smiled.

Jia was lost in her thoughts as her mother plucked a white chrysanthemum from the ground and tucked it behind her daughter's ear.

"Simplicity is beauty, wouldn't you agree?" Jia's mother asked.

"Yes," Jia answered softly. Everyone was acting so strangely that day. "Mother, who is that man inside?"

"You are a woman now, little Jia," the mother pet Jia's hair softly. "I would have liked to see you married and happy. You are too young…"

"What are you talking about? It will be only months until the matchmaker comes to see me! I'll be married soon."

"Your brother is sick, and your father does not see any other way to buy medicine--"

"Mother, what are you saying," Jia pushed away from her mother, slowly, cautiously.

"Jia, I tried to convince him otherwise…"

"Mom, how can you do this to me?" Jia started to cry. "I've done everything you've asked me to for my entire life, and now you're going to strip me of my pride? Take away my chance at a good life?"

"My little Jia, I--"

"What a fine deal!" the man from the doorframe as Jia's father walked him out.

"Thank you, sir," was all the father could bring himself to say.

"Dad! Dad, how could you?" Jia cried as she backed into her mother's embrace.

The man and Jia's father walked over to Jia and her mother, calm as ever. The young woman and the mother were crying now, begging for them to reconsider. The man pulled Jia roughly away from her mother, but both women refused to let go of one another. They held each other by the arm tightly, as if the world would end if they let go. But the mother's grip faltered; the father had slapped his wife harshly across the face.

"A son had more value than a daughter!" Jia's father screamed at his wife.

Jia watched in disgust; her father had never raised a hand to his wife, or even to his children, as long as Jia had been alive. Why now? Jia looked at her father straight in the eyes and glared.

"I hate you," she spat at him before allowing herself to be dragged away by the strange man.

Jia was hurled into an impossibly tiny carriage led by an equally tiny donkey. The strange man could not even sit atop the jack; it was much too small for doing anything but carting along the rickety cart that Jia sat in.

There was many holes in the carriage and Jia saw that she was being taken into town. The road was bumpy and winding, but never the less, it was clear to Jia that she was being taken farther and farther away from her home.

The cart stopped abruptly, sending Jia flying at the door of the carriage. Jia sat on her knees and waited for the man to come get her. He was rude, the man was, and he pulled Jia to her feet without speaking a word to her. Jia looked at the place he walked her to, and it was, lo and behold, the Chrysanthemum House. Jia stared at it with admiration; perhaps Miss Tai would be here!

Jia let the man push her to the front door of the Chrysanthemum House and stood at grand door. Within moments a flamboyant woman came flying out of the doors and greeted Jia and the man warmly.

"Oh, Master Tang! What a pleasant surprise! What may I do for you today?" the woman was dressed elegantly, Jia noticed. She wore a robe the color of the sunset and several gold hairpins in her hair. She an average face, though. It was a little aged, and her nose looked kind of piggish. Jia almost laughed as she thought of the hogs back at her home dressed up in this fine clothing that this woman wore.

"I've brought a girl," the man, Master Tang, Jia assumed, said. "A farm girl, just turned thirteen today."

"My, my, so young!" the woman eyed Tang curiously. "How much?"

"I paid thirteen pieces of gold for her."

"I will pay that plus half," the woman said pleasantly.

Jia felt little standing between the two adults. The piggy woman was standing on the deck of the Chrysanthemum House and looked abnormally tall, and Master Tang, who stood behind Jia, like a perverted archery instructor, was tall as well. She looked up at both their faces with helplessness.

"I don't know… She is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I recall, there hasn't been anything so beautiful at the Chrysanthemum House since Lady Bian left."

The extroverted woman hopped off the deck and bent down to Jia's level. She let out a sigh and examined Jia's face. She ran her hands through the girl's hair and studied her through and through. The woman sighed and stood up at full height. She wasn't nearly as tall as Jia had thought.

"I'll pay double her buying price."

"Sold."

The woman found her money-pouch within her robe and plucked twenty six pieces of gold before sliding it into Master Tang's greedy hands. The gluttonous man then nudged Jia toward the odd woman, who offered to help Jia up onto the deck.

"So, my newest investment," the woman sighed. "I hope you are worth what I just paid him."

Jia took the woman's hand and allowed to be helped into the Chrysanthemum House.

"I am Lady Chen Zheng, the mistress of the Chrysanthemum House, and you are…?"

Jia curtsied ever-so politely and lowered her eyes. "I am Hou Jia, my lady." Jia's eyes raised to look at Lady Chen's reaction and smiled.

"Goodness! Even the young ones can have mannerisms certain to draw the men in quickly!"

--

The odd woman drew Jia into a decent sized room and showed her around. It was a nice room, bigger than the one at her home, and it had almost a cozy feel to it. Candles were by the window, a bed lay away from the rays of the sun, it was cozy enough, Jia thought.

"This is your room," Lady Chen eyed Jia like her mother did when she scolded her. "And as new showgirl, I trust you will earn such a privilege. You know, this room used to belong to the most successful woman that the Chrysanthemum House ever had."

Jia looked at Lady Chen curiously, and the older woman's nose twitched as she laughed.

"Oh, don't tell me you've never heard of her!" Lady Chen threw her hands up. "She used to go by the name of Miss Tai. She was a brat, let me tell you! I was happiest when she managed to weasel her way into becoming Lord Cao's wife," Lady Chen sighed. "But still… She brought in such good money, and now she's Lady Bian of the Wei and is making more money in a month than I do in six! Despicable, really. Anyhow, Cao paid a pretty good price for her, and I'll let you in on a little secret…"

Jia moved closer to hear Lady Chen.

"If you get a good enough reputation, like Miss Tai did, then maybe you'll become the wife of a warlord too!"

Jia smiled at the thought. To be the wife of someone important; that would be lovely. She smiled to herself and looked at her room for a while before Lady Chen ripped her attention away from her daydreams.

"Now, Miss Jia," Lady Chen threw a couple of towels at the girl and opened the girl's door. "Go with the other girls to the bathhouse. An artist will be here later to paint a picture of you so the men can see what a beautiful young woman the Chrysanthemum House has acquired. Go now! The other women will not be afraid to leave you behind."

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So I got this nifty laptop for my birthday so I can be anywhere while I'm on it. So the other day I was laying in my bed and I was watching _Memoirs of a Geisha_ on my TV, so I was like, hey I feel like writing too! So blah blah, I started typing and whatnot, and thats where this whole chapter pretty much comes from. Its so _Memoirs_-esque, its disturbing. So thats my little explanation of why this chapter is bordering on the line of copyright infringement.


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